Hello from St. Louis.

Just wanted to say hello to everyone, I'm an absolute beginner and I'm really
enjoying this site. I got into this by my 13 year old son - he "shreds" on his Guitar Hero video game :) so we started taking private lessons. Now he wants to quit and I'm hooked, go figure.

Originally Posted by: skyywalker35Just wanted to say hello to everyone ...

Hey and welcome to the site. Glad to hear you are having fun and getting value from the site. :)

BTW, I was born and raised in STL. Happy learning and playing!

Hi skyywalker35,

Welcome to to Guitar Tricks! yeah, my son is 14, it's a tough age to keep them interested. Maybe you'll inspire him to pick it up again.

Hey, welcome to Guitar Tricks! I just came back here after being in hiatus for a couple years.

Hope we both get what we're looking for! :D

welcome to GT...this is a great place with some very cool people.

A little kid I watch who is 6 always love to "play" my guitars....and he asked his parents for a guitar. They got a used kids electric from a friend. When he came over I got him some guitar stuff for his birthday but he told me he doesnt want to learn how to play...just wants to strum on it and pretend he is a rock star..lolol its kind of funny to watch

the desire is there....just has to be nourished.

I know my son enjoys playing his guitar, I think he is scared of a recital we have to do. All of the newer students have to play a song in front of all the other students and teachers. He's just suffering from stage fright.

Hey skyywalker35,
It could be the stage fright, but many of my younger students have trouble getting past sore fingers. They start out all fired up and ready to go, but after a few lessons, and of course practicing too much their fingers get sore.

They go from practicing daily, to not practicing at all. Then when they do pick it up again, it's like starting all over. I think you should let him know that you really enjoyed learning together, and ask him why he doesn't want to anymore. If you know he enjoys playing, then tell him not to give it up.

If the recital is the problem, maybe he just feels like he's not ready for it. On here there is no recital, and when he feels ready he could play for you. There is a friend of mine who plays really well, after just messing around with guitars for 20 years. He always talks about taking lessons again, after his mom let him quit after 4 of them because of sore fingers. He doesn't have sore fingers now, and can even play some leads. He only plays by himself though, because he doesn't know keys, or chords, and if you ask him what he just played he can only play it again, he can't tell you what he's doing.

He just figures out notes by playing around with it, riffs from TV shows, or something on the radio. I told him about GT, but he says "I don't know how to use a computer". I try to show him keys, and chords, because that's the only thing he's missing. It makes me wonder how good he would be if he hadn't quit. I hope your son will get past whatever it is, and continue to learn, it seems like he would be good at it too.

Best of luck to you, and be sure to let us know if we can do anything to help you.

JD